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Web-only letters to the editor, Sept. 11, 2013

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Wednesday September 11, 2013 10:06 AM

Dispatch.com regularly will post letters to the editor that don't make it to print in The
Dispatch. Unlike letters to the editor that appear in the newspaper, Web-only letters have not been
edited.

Learning experiences

One year ago, Nexus Academy of Columbus opened its doors and began offering students in
central Ohio a blended educational experience where they attend school four hours a day, four days
a week, and complete their required work online.

I was amazed by how quickly the students adapted and embraced this new approach to learning
as they entered the classroom equipped with a computer and a whole world of opportunity at their
fingertips.

As a licensed teacher, having face-to-face time with my students is still the most enjoyable
part of the experience because we have the opportunity to discuss, share and experience information
together as a group. However, the online curriculum really enables students to dive in and explore
the material in their courses while working at their own pace.

I used to work in a traditional brick-and-mortar setting where my ability to utilize
technology in the classroom was limited. Now with blended learning, the technology I use offers me
the ability to look at student data and hone-in on the areas where students may be struggling. I
can also provide more individualized attention and instruction to my students.

I truly believe that blended learning offers students an innovative way to learn and enables
them to take ownership of their educational experience.

Mary Timm, Columbus

Food for thought

Warren Haydon wrote a letter to the Dispatch, September 7, 2013, about the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). I totally agree with his assessment that we should not
cut this program. What is the mission of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture if it is not to
protect the food security of Americans? Farmers benefit when people eat, unless they are
growing crops for other purposes. So what is agriculture? And what is the mission
of the USDA?

As we hear more, learn more and think more about what The Farm Bill means to us, there is an
interesting and important exhibit and symposium coming to The Ohio State University’s Knowlton
School of Architecture this fall. It is about food, and how it is situated in our culture.

Banvard Gallery / Knowlton Hall

October 9, 2013 - 5:00pm to December 20, 2013 - 5:00pm

Food Situations is a special Banvard Gallery exhibit designed to accompany the symposium
Situating Food that the Knowlton School will host on November 8-9, 2013. The exhibit and symposium
will identify models, foster innovation, and offer criticism of issues that impact food security,
food justice, production, access and cultural awareness, especially as they influence trends in
urban revitalization.

Whatever the outcome of the art or the talking may be, the topic is vitally important to us
all. In the interest of full disclosure, I have art in the exhibit. But I am writing because
I believe we all need to help usher in some revolutionary changes in the way we structure our
relationship to land and food.

The birth of agriculture, some 1200 years ago, allowed cities and civilizations to develop
and flourish. Agriculture is a technology so old we don’t think of it as a technology.
But if we look at our systems of mono-culture crops and animal containment, or at the processed
food industry today, we can certainly recognize those as developed technologies. We need a
new technological revolution to replace the Industrial models with models that more closely mimic
nature. Nature does not waste anything. Whatever is leftover from one useful existence
becomes a resource for another useful existence.

In order to make the changes that this century demands I believe we need to start with
something very basic – food. My own particular love and focus is on soil, the food for
food. We eat food, we waste food, and we don’t think enough about what our foods need to
thrive and be nutritious. Reconfiguring the Industrial Revolution for a new century will
require a newly imagined, and much less contentious relationship with Nature. The designers
of our urban and rural landscapes are hard at work.

Let us all become involved in the re-imagination.

Ann Silverman, Columbus

Mayor Coleman

About the Honorable Mayor Coleman's mention of fairness (Levy push centers on message of
fairness, Dispatch Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013) I would like to ask the mayor a couple of questions.

Mayor Coleman how is it FAIR that every time the schools supposedly need money, it falls on
the backs of homeowners by increasing property taxes? Many of these homeowners are senior
citizens living on fixed incomes and can ill afford another tax increase. Many are struggling
already to stay in the homes they have paid taxes on for many years. Is that FAIR mayor?

How is it FAIR mayor, that people who do not own property are allowed, by voting, to decide
how much the tax burden will be on homeowners?

How is it FAIR mayor that the school funding system in the state of Ohio was ruled
unconstitutional many years ago but is still in place today? Is the constitution not relevant
any more?

From Webster's: FAIR, the general word, implies the treating of both or all sides
alike.

Phillip Eramo, Columbus

Dennis Kucinich

Reading the excellent story by Jack Torry and Jessica Wehrman (Sunday September 8th) I’m
reminded of Ben Franklin who said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” and former congressman Dennis Kucinich,
participating in a debate with fellow Democrats seeking our party’s nomination for president when
he was asked, “as the only candidate on stage who voted against the USA Patriot Act, can you tell
us why you voted “Nay”? “Because I read it” Kucinich quickly answered.

In reading Mr. Torry and Ms. Wehrman’s story, perhaps we’ll strive to prevent further erosion
of our civil liberties and maybe, just maybe, work to retrieve some of those lost over the last 12
years.

Fred D. Strawser, Lancaster

Income taxes

It's too bad Ohio doesn't have a governor with the courage of Missouri governor Jay Nixon.

Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed a massive income and business tax cut bill by the veto-proof
Republican legislature. The bill is seen by many as placing public education and mental
health programs in serious financial difficulty. This same legislature also rejected federal
expansion of the state Medicaid program.

Sound familiar?

Missouri school boards, Democrats and concerned outside groups are campaigning for the veto
to be sustained. The bill's supporters claim it will not hurt education or mental health and
will result in more jobs. That lower taxes have never produced more jobs anywhere has never
deterred Republicans.

Ohio is like Missouri. With the state set to spend $2.7 billion less in the new budget
thanks to an income tax slash, the message to school boards and local governments is do more with
less and if you want something, go get it yourself. Don't look to us.

Missouri legislators need two-thirds of the vote in both chambers to override. Reports
are they are having difficulty lining up the 109 votes they need. Stay tuned.